Abandoned Sarcophagus + Phyrexian Altar + Sandbar Merfolk + Overwhelming Splendor

Abandoned Sarcophagus

Phyrexian Altar

Sandbar Merfolk

Overwhelming Splendor

How it works

1. Cast Sandbar Merfolk from your hand or graveyard by paying .
2. Activate Phyrexian Altar by sacrificing Sandbar Merfolk, adding .
3. If Sandbar Merfolk was cast from your graveyard, Sandbar Merfolk is not exiled by Abandoned Sarcophagus due to Overwhelming Splendor removing Sandbar Merfolk's cycling ability.
4. Repeat.

This clever loop turns a modest Merfolk into an infinite engine by exploiting a fascinating rules interaction between Abandoned Sarcophagus and Overwhelming Splendor. Because Overwhelming Splendor strips away all abilities from creatures its enchanted player controls, Sandbar Merfolk loses its cycling ability entirely while on the battlefield or in transit. This means that when you sacrifice Sandbar Merfolk to Phyrexian Altar for mana and it heads to the graveyard, Abandoned Sarcophagus's replacement effect fails to see a cycling ability—allowing the Merfolk to linger in your graveyard rather than being exiled, ready to be cast over and over again.